With less than 40 days till Tiki Oasis, the kiln is going to be firing as often as possible. Here is an update on the projects nearing completion:

*special* tiles
I did a handful of modified tiles for Tiki Oasis this year. They range from re-sculpting fresly pressed tiles (adding stone texture and cracks for example) to special glazes. Here you see some skulls that will be getting a22k gold tooth. Had to bisque fire them, then do a black underglaze wash with gloss black on the tooth that will be gold-i-fied. I'll be applying gold lustre glaze and sticking them back in the kiln this week.

Glaze fun!
Experimenting with a bunch of underglaze and glaze applications for the Tiki Oasis tiles and pendants - here is a peek some of the pieces before I fire up the kiln. The all-seeing eye tiles look quite awesome, if I may say so myself!

First kiln load!
First load of Tiki Oasis goodies! You can see one of the Cracked Moai tiles (2 survived! I am so happy!), 4 MEGA Moai pendants (love them), and some extra yummy glazed tiles. If the rest of the firings go like this I'll be a happy camper!

in addition to these pieces I'll also be bringing the jug mugs, some of my silkscreen prints, and a SUPER SECRET returning VanTiki item that I am extra stoked about.

Mad Dog, I love that temple facade! I'd like to have that as a wall in my office, and I'd put my computer in the door entryway arch

The kiln has been running non-stop over here - alternating between a series of bisque loads, glaze loads, and luster loads. If all goes well (and I can squeeze everything in my little kiln) I should only have 2 more firings before Oasis. If I can't fit it all, I may have to up that to 3.

Here is a peek at the goings on:

The gold luster firings went really well. Here are the gold teeth, a gold version of the x-Ray Idol pendant, and a Skull Ingot

I squeezed the Don't Wake The Idol mug into today's glaze firing. It was tricky, as the 14" tall mug (!) is just a few inches shorter than the lid of my kiln.

Here is the last thing the mug saw before I closed the lid and hit the start button

Hopefully the firings continue to go smoothly (knock on coconut). I'm picking up the transfer decals today for all the jug mugs and finisher medals, and those will make up the bulk of next week's firings.

Henrik, loving all of these new pieces. Will there be... dare I ask.... new silkscreen prints? Looking forward to see the return of ... something that I think is... dare I say.... well, maybe not. But what I'm thinking can travel pretty easily and is (are) fairly compact. Am I close?